Dictation

A dictation is the classic school exercise: someone reads a text aloud, and you write it down. Snap to Learn reads it for you, like a teacher. The text is new each time and is written from the words in your deck, so you practise spelling exactly the words you are learning. When you finish, you take a photo of your page and the app marks every mistake.

Which languages? Dictations work for decks whose target language is English, German, French, Spanish or Bulgarian. For other languages the Dictation tab does not appear.

Creating a dictation

Dictations live with the other exercises: open a deck, go to the Exercises tab and tap New exercise. In the Create an exercise sheet, choose Dictation at the top.

The Create an exercise sheet with Dictation selected, ten words ticked, the levels A1/A2, B1/B2 and C1/C2, and the Generate button

1. Pick your words. Select between 3 and 15 words. The app writes a short, connected text that uses them. Random 15 picks words for you. Until you have enough words, the button at the bottom shows how many you have, for example Generate · 2/3.

2. Choose a level. Instead of Easy, Medium and Hard, a dictation has three levels: A1/A2, B1/B2 and C1/C2. The level sets how long the text is, how complex the sentences are, how long the dictated parts are and how fast they are read. A1/A2 is the right start for most school children.

3. Tap Generate. The dictation appears in the list after about 30 seconds. A dictation counts as 2 exercises, because the app records two readings of the text: a natural one and a slow one. The line under the sheet's title tells you how many exercises you have left. See What it costs.

In the list, a dictation has a purple headphones icon, and its line shows the level and the length, for example Dictation · B1/B2 · 52 words.

Before you start

Tap the dictation to open its preview. It shows the words in the dictation and, once you have done it, Your results: one line for each attempt, with the grade and the number of mistakes. Tap a result to see that attempt again.

The preview of the dictation Au café with Your results showing one attempt, the words in the dictation, and the Start dictation button

Get a sheet of paper and a pen. Leave space between the lines, so you have room to correct later. Then tap Start dictation.

Listening and writing

The text stays hidden while the dictation plays. You only hear it, as in class. For each sentence:

The app reads the whole sentence at normal speed. Just listen.
Then it reads the sentence in short parts, slowly, each part twice. Write what you hear.
After each part there is a writing pause. A ring around the play button fills up, and the next part starts when the ring is full.

After the last sentence, the app reads the whole text once more, so you can check what you wrote.

The dictation player reading the first part of sentence 1, with Listening and Write what you hear under the large pause button, and the back, repeat and forward buttons

The screen shows where you are (for example Sentence 2 of 3 · Part 3 of 8) and what to do now (Listening, Write). The controls work like a music player:

Play / Pause -- the large button in the middle.
Previous part -- jumps back to the start of the current part. Tap it again to go one part back.
Repeat -- reads the current part again.
Next part -- skips ahead.

The screen stays on while the dictation plays. If you switch to another app or take a call, the dictation pauses, and you continue with Play.

Writing time and voice speed

Tap Settings at the top to adjust the dictation to the writer:

Writing time -- More time, Normal or Less time after each part. Younger children often need More time.
Voice speed -- 1×, 0.9× or 0.8×.

Changes apply from the next part, and the dictation keeps playing while you change them.

The Dictation settings sheet with Writing time (More time, Normal, Less time) and Voice speed (0.8×, 0.9×, 1×)

Writing on a tablet

On an iPad or an Android tablet you can also write on the screen with a stylus or your finger. In Settings, set Write on to the tablet screen. The controls then move into a bar above a ruled page.

Use the Pen and the Eraser, and Undo or Redo a stroke.
Add page gives you a new page, up to 6 pages.
Your writing is saved after every stroke, so you can close the app and continue later.

When you are done, tap Check. The app reads your handwriting directly from the screen, without a photo.

Checking your writing

When the dictation ends, tap Check my writing.

The Check your writing screen with the Scan pages tile and the Choose from photos button

Tap Scan pages to open the document scanner. Scan all your pages in one go, in order. Crop each page so that only your writing is in the picture. You can also tap Choose from photos to use pictures you already took.
Check the pages in the list. Remove a page with its ✕ if you need to. A dictation can have up to 6 pages.
Tap Check 1 page (or Check 2 pages, and so on).

The app reads your handwriting, which takes a few seconds. Checking is free and does not use any exercises.

Tip: Good light and a flat page give the best result. If the app cannot read your handwriting, it asks you to try a clearer photo.

Your mistakes

The result shows a grade (Very good, Good, Satisfactory or Keep practising), the number of mistakes and the full text, with every mistake marked in its colour.

The result of a dictation: Satisfactory, 4 mistakes, the text with ami, manger and boire underlined in red and a missing comma in blue, and the photo of the handwritten page

The app tells these mistakes apart:

Spelling -- the word is spelled wrong.
Accent -- an accent or umlaut is missing or wrong.
Capital letter -- upper and lower case are mixed up.
Punctuation -- a comma or full stop is missing or wrong.
Not found -- a word is missing. It appears in [brackets].
Extra word -- a word that is not in the text. It is struck through.
Unclear -- the app could not read the word. This does not count as a mistake.

Tap any marked word to see what you wrote next to the correct word, and to hear the word.

When the app misreads your handwriting

Handwriting is hard to read, also for a computer. If the app read a word wrong, tap it and choose That's not what I wrote (or I did not write this for an extra word). Type what is really on the page and tap Save. The app checks the dictation again with your correction.

Practising your mistakes

A dictation shows you which words you cannot spell yet. Tap the button with the number of these words, for example Practise 3 words, to turn them into practice:

The Practise these words sheet listing ami, manger and boire under In your deck, each with what was written: amie, mangé, boir

In your deck -- words that are already in the deck go back to practising, even if you had mastered them.
New words -- words from the text that are not in your deck yet are looked up and added to this deck with their translation.

Tap a word to leave it out. Then tap ✓, and Start practice begins a practice session with these words first. Punctuation mistakes and extra words are not included, because they are not words to learn.

To try the same dictation again, tap Write again.

A few things worth knowing

Replay as often as you like. Doing a dictation again is free. Each attempt is kept under Your results in the preview.
Dictations travel with shared decks. When someone imports your deck, they get your dictations too, without your results.
Delete anytime. Press and hold a dictation in the list and choose Delete.

What it costs

Creating a dictation uses 2 exercises from the same allowance as the other exercises: 3 free exercises to try them, then 50 exercises a month with a subscription. Playing a dictation again and checking your writing are always free. See Fill-in-the-Blanks Exercises for the details.